good benefits to that. thanks for watching. i'm laura ingram and i'm in for bill o'reilly. please remember, this spin, it always stops right here because looking out for you. alex rodriguez about to take his first at-bat of the season, so why don't you listen to the reception he'll getting. >> from new york, clifford beachman, number 13. alex rodriguez. >> certainly not a warm greeting from the crowd here in chicago, and i guess, what would you expect.

>> if you're wondering, he got a base hit. just over five hours after major league baseball suspended yankees third baseman alex rodriguez, he stepped on the field and received that not so warm welcome. now, the mlb is suspending rodriguez without pay for the remaining 211 games through the 2014 season amid allegations about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. earlier today before suiting up for the game against the white sox, rodriguez and the yankees held a press conference tachl. a take a look at what the embattled third baseman had to say. >> i'm not saying anything about mlb or anything that's going on. i'm saying this is a process, this is america, you have the opportunity to defend yourself, and i think the process, like all americans, will have the opportunity to defend ourselves in a due process, and i think that's what we'll have today and i'll have my day. >> the 38-year-old also vowed to

repeal and fight the suspension, and with a repeal, he remains eligible to play until a decision is reached. he did admit a year ago that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003, but he has repeatedly denied using them since then. fox's own adam hounsley. adam, what do you got? >> it's been quite a circus for alex rodriguez the last few months as mlb did their best to try to get him to agree to a suspension. 12 others have all agreed to some sort of suspension, depending on the time and the length, but a-rod was the one holdout. the reason we're told that suspension is longer than the others is due to the fact he tried to cover up his involvement and even hinder the investigation itself. he claimed that did not happen. he does not address whether or not he used peds, performance-enhancing drugs. today he did not deny using them

at all. he was given the chance with a couple questions. in fact, he talked about his rehab coming back after two hip surgeries. he hasn't played so far this year at all. take a look at his response about the situation. >> there's nothing about this that has been easy. all of it has been challenging. i'm sure there's been mistakes made along the way. we're here now. i'm a human being. i've had two hip surgeries, i've had two knee surgeries, i'm fighting for my life. i have to defend myself. if i don't defend myself, no one else will. >> a-rod says he's looking forward to helping the team win some games. the yankees do need a third baseman right now. they have let him back on the team because this is a process that goes forward. an arbiter will hear the case in the next few weeks. we're now hearing by some sources this could potentially draw out until the end of the season. a-rod is doing what he can, of course, as well as the team as well. he will have a decision in this

process but for now he potentially stands to lose more than $30 million, and shawn, i will note, that first at-bat, he had a 2.0 pitch. >> joining me now in regard to the suspension, legendary baseball player tommy la sorta and johnny bench. good to see you both. welcome to the show. >> thank you very much. >> tommy, i know how much you love this game. i've been to dinner with you and the whole restaurant comes up to you. what do you make of this? i'm sure your opinion means a lot to a lot of people. >> well, i appreciate what the commissioner is doing. he's doing everything in his power to get this sport clean to everything. and he's going to do it till it becomes time for him to leave. but anybody that gets involved

in illegal drugs should be penalized for it. >> yeah. do you think, tommy, i always understood the rules to be first offense, 50-game suspension. second offense, 100-game suspension. they didn't release the facts of the case here, so i'm having a hard time deciding if this is just, but it seems to go against the written rules, doesn't it? >> well, not necessarily, because we don't know the full story about it. i mean, there's more to it probably than we know right now, which will come out when the time comes. >> what do you think, johnny? >> i think the commissioner is using the best interest of baseball here. he has his own -- he can draw up his own conclusions at this point. i'm from oklahoma. i was standing by will roger's statues not too long ago in washington, d.c., and i kind of would like somebody to just sort of admit the problem. we need people we can believe in, whether it be the politicians we have trouble

believing in, business people, finances we have trouble believing in. we try to lean on our sports figures and hope we can actually believe in them, that we can trust them to do what they do. there are so many great things, the mochados, the poseys, the longorias. there are so many great stories, and yet we still have to hear what's going on. i want somebody to fall on their sword if they have to. okay, i'm guilty. the other 11 are saying they're guilty. and we know that alex rodriguez is guilty. baseball would not go what they've gone through and come up with this conclusion. bud selig has done everything he can to try to get this baseball year and the rest of the future of baseball clean. and that's exactly what they're doing. but, you know, we need somebody to finally just say, okay, i did it. this is my problem. i had a problem, i'm over it, let's face it, let's go on. and alex continues to believe that nobody will, you know, find

wrongdoing in what he's done, and that's the sad thing that's happening. we could go on tomorrow after these guys are suspended and they will be basically forgotten off of the page. but we're going to have to deal with the rest of august and maybe september and listen to what alex is doing. and i guess -- you know, he will live his own punishment. you heard the crowd tonight. this will happen with radio, with tv, with all the media, and it will happen in every park he ever plays in. he will have to live with that. that's hard to do, but he seems to have the turtle shell and he can draw himself in and be unaffected by it. i just hope it gets over soon. >> tommy, i guess one of the questions, i mean, baseball has had its scandals over the years with the black sox, even johnny's teammate, pete rose, one of the greatest players of all time. are players' role models, maybe some don't want to accept that. are they role models to these kids? because i believe they are. >> they sure do.

they sure should be. you see, youngsters, they don't want to be a senator or a governor or a mayor or -- >> or a talk show host. >> talk show host. >> -- they want to be major league baseball players. and major league players will have more of an impact on the youth of our country than anybody. they will listen to the major leaguers. they look up to the major leaguers. and every one of them should feel and be a role model to the youngsters in our country. >> johnny? >> well, i mean, tommy la sorda has been the best ambassador in the world. he's involved every time the commission needs him. he's there to support it. he's a dodger. that's the only thing i ever disliked about him. the fact he's a wizard on the baseball bus is important to me. but tommy is right, we really do have a great game going on. there are some great races. the story of the pirates going

on and everything else. just think about this, though. these guys, if they're testing them, they haven't tested positive within the period of this year because they're doing the drug testing throughout the system, throughout the whole organization of baseball. so they're not testing positive. that's the thing that does it. i want to hear a doctor come on and say, okay, if you take pdeds, this will give you this. it can't make you faster, it can't make your reflexes -- because we made studies with the national institute of health about training the eyes to treat the reflexes from the muscles and the nerves and how you have .17 seconds to make reaction time in the period of .4 seconds while the ball is being delivered to the plate. so i want to know why it's happening, what it's doing and why these guys are still effecti effective. but there is a side to it like that. tommy and i both believe in the game of baseball. we want it to go away. we're sick of all of this, and i think baseball and the rest of

you as well are all sick of it. >> let me ask -- >> absolutely, absolutely. when you see those fly balls that used to be caught on the warning track now go into the stands for the players who are utilizing that drug. >> what do you do in the case of andy petit who admitted that he used hgh because he was injured, players have a limited life span. medicine can help them heal faster. human growth hormone may be one of them. do you think we have to have a full discussion about that? and then i guess it runs up against past players and records, et cetera. johnny, what's your thoughts on that? >> well, we look at roger cl clemens. we got barry bonds, mark mcguire. mark mcguire and sammy sosa saved the game of baseball. you have petit who has used it once or twice.

there isn't anybody who won't take a cortisone shot to get into the game of baseball. it's not a performance enhancing, it's not a steroid or anything like that, it's in a different form. yet people will do that. i caught 54 days in a row without a day off. if i had had a chance to work out in the weight room like these guys have, i would have hit 60 home runs myself. so they have the training, they have the skill. there's no better athlete, the way they eat, they way they work out, the way they train, the way they're treated. and the money every day gives them a chance to have their own personal trainer. so the personal trainer comes in and says, here's this blender. we're going to put all this stuff in there. i guarantee you the naivete of the player himself didn't know what all went in that. they went from $3 million contracts to $15 million contracts. you think those guys sitting right now that made $40 million

in the past ten years before this that were taking it? the players association didn't support this and they had to wait for the players to get off of it. and they gave the players two years, i guarantee you, to get off of this stuff, yet these guys being punished right now didn't do it. and they're paying the price. yet they'll come back next year with big contracts and the chance to prove themselves again. >> tommy, you get the last word tonight. >> well, i think about the way the players who don't or didn't take the drugs playing against the guys that did. it's not on the same level on the field. and that's why they should be penalized, they should be suspended. i think the commissioner is doing an outstanding job. he's doing everything to clean up our game of baseball. but nothing, nothing can stop the game of baseball. it will always be the greatest sport in this country. i don't care what happens.

>> tommy, how are the dodgers playing? >> pretty good this year. >> we're winning. we're winning. 2-1 today. >> i know. two of the greatest guys in baseball. thank you both for being with us. johnny bench, tommy, thank you so much. coming up next right here tonight on "hannity." >> coming back from two hip surgeries, terrible performance in the post-season last year, a-rod is back in the box. >> all right, a-rod getting booed again tonight. we're going to continue tonitor chicago. we'll bring you updates, highlights as they happen. plus, it seems like there are slim pickings when it comes to who our kids should look up to these guys. we'll talk about that next. plus, you can make the selection of the day. option number 1 is right here. >> you are not one of those congresspeople who have to worry about every little thing. you could come on this show and with the spark miles card from capital one,

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longer are fit to be positive role models for your kids, and we don't want wannabe mayor anthony weiner or eliot spitzer. who is left? our radio tv talk show host, bill cunning ham and third way co-founder, bob bennett. bill cunningham, you're close friends with pete rose, one of the greatest players of all time, played with johnny bench. today, what is your reaction, sir? >> sean hannity, in the good old days when men were men, gay meant you were happy and aids was an anti-depressant, we had hollywood stars like john wayne and others you could look up to, we had the roman catholic church. look at the scandal there.

in fact, lance armstrong, who i thought was one of the greatest stories in american sporting history, has been found dirty and now is getting sued all over the place. i believe, sean, and i think you would agree with me, that role models are those individuals you have dinner with. it's moms and dads and brothers and sisters and poppies and nanas and aunts and uncles and you can't look at anyone for a role model except for in your own family. >> i was a new york mets fan growing up. i wanted to be tom seaver. help me out. you're friends with pete rose. >> there is no better man, he's a man's man and a woman's man. pete rose, johnny bench and others, frank robinson went to pete for years and said, come clean, it's all going to be okay. pete couldn't confront the truth, and a-rod, i don't think, is confronting the truth.

let's face it, dwight goodman is probably one of your heroes. how did that work out, sean? >> it didn't work out too good. i want to see the details of the case. i want to know what happened. why a 211-game suspension. the rules says 150. there has to be something beyond what we think happened to get that kind of punishment. your reaction? >> i think that's right, i was listening earlier, and i think it will be very interesting to hear what the details are. i agree with the guests you had on earlier. i think johnny bench is right. there are still a lot of heroes out there. brice harper is a stand-up guy in washington, he's doing a lot of things. all you have to do is look to a-rod's left and you have derek jeter. i hate the yaj henkees personal but derek jeter is a stand-up guy. >> that's your problem. you start with two strikes. >> i have two kids, both boys 13 and 10, and they can look up to guys like brice harper and derek

jeter, and there's still plenty of guys to look up to in sports and politics, too. >> anthony weiner. you can't look up to him, you can't look up to eliot spitzer, jim mcgreehy, bob filner. >> you got dave vitter, you got duke cunningham, there are guys on both sides of the aisle. half of shakespeare is how power krup corrupts and powerful men do bad things sometimes involving women. there are public figures in washington where there are plenty of role models. >> i don't want to get too political. didn't a lot of this change, though, billy cunningham with the bill clinton/monica lewinsky, didn't it lower the bar ten notches lower. >> we look at eisenhower, even

kennedy despite all the revelations we didn't know about, but when clinton turned the oval office into the oral office, that became a big problem. now every politician from anthony's weiner to san diego want to use clinton as a role model. i can smear my opponents, give my girlfriend some benefits, pay off a few people and clinton stayed in office. i think when history is rewritten, 1997 and 1998 will be a watershed moment. when clinton got away with that, all hell has broken loose ever since. i blame hillary and i blame bill. >> hell has broken loose for centuries, we just have a press that's a little looser than it used to be. they've been doing this a long time. >> you know the old story, say it ain't so. kids deserve better role models, and for those who have the public eye, i think ball players, whether they like it or not, they have to admit these kids are looking up to them,

they're em laulating them, they wearing their hats. >> if ben should choose, which he never did, the greatest catcher of all time, he would have hit 65. that's why a-rod has a problem. his numbers are fictitious. i want to see the evidence. i think you should get to 50 games. past that i think might be heaping too much on a-rod. >> they might win on appeal unless they've got something we don't know about. time will tell. i think they should have released it today. >> good to see you. billy cunningham, my yankees will be back next year. bad injury year this year, all right? good to see you both. coming up next, 19 u.s. embassies and consulates are closed tonight because of a terror threat, and fox news can now confirm from an intelligent source what prompted the worldwide alert. we're going live to washington. we have the very latest and we'll check in with colonel oliver north. now it's time for you to select our video of the day. just log on to hannitylive.com, cast your vote.

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and this is a fox news alert. the world is on edge after, quote, specific and serious terror threats have been issued. the state department announced that 19 u.s. embassies and consulates in the middle east and africa will remain closed this week out of an abundance of caution. tonight fox news can confirm that the closures resulted in communication that was intercepted between aiman al zawari and al wuhayshi. >> the pentagon says u.s. forces across the middle east are on heightened alert tonight, and yet fox has learned that the task force formed in the wake of the benghazi attack returned to its base in spain after weeks of being deployed in italy despite the new terror alert. martin dempsey went to the state department today for lunch with secretary of state john kerry. at the top of their agenda?

embassy security. the decision to close 19 embassies until the end of romadon this saturday ended in interception of communications between ayman spails al-zawahiri and nasir al wuhayshi. >> clearly it is the most active terror organization there and has been the most operationally active affiliate of al qaeda core. >> reporter: republicans and democrats on the house and senate intelligence committee say the terror chatter now is at the same level, if not higher, than it was before september 11. >> this threat is credible. i've seen the intelligence information. it comes from high-level operatives in al qaeda. >> there's been an awful lot of chatter out there. chatter means conversation among terrorists about the planning that's going on, very reminiscent of what we saw

pre-9/11. >> reporter: and there doesn't appear to be a lot of hand wringing between intelligence officials that this information about an intelligence intercept and a possible attack leaked out, and there is no indication that the administration has launched any sort of leak investigation. sean? >> jennifer, thank you. for more reaction to this developing story, a host of war stories of colonel oliver. one of the main themes in the last campaign was that al qaeda was through, they were on the run, they were finished. for example, watch this. >> most of al qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated. >> i said i would go after bin laden if we had a clear shot at him. and i did. the goal that i set to defeat al qaeda and deny it a chance to rebuild is now within our reach. thanks to air force personnel who did their part, osama bin laden is no longer a threat to our country. we've put al qaeda on the path to defeat. >> osama bin laden is dead and

general motors is alive. >> al qaeda is on the path to defeat and osama bin laden is dead. al qaeda is on the path to defeat and osama bin laden is dead. >> we decimated al qaeda central, we have eliminated osama bin laden. that was our purpose. >> well, colonel, it appears that's not the case. your reaction? >> well, bin laden is dead, but radical islam is alive and well. how is that arab spring working out for you, mr. obama? here's the problem. they're lying to themselves, they've been lying to us. this global warning is nothing more than evidencef the o-team's a businebysmal failure protection of america. and that report on the two leaders in yemen. remember, september is the 16th anniversary of the bombings in

kenya and tanzania. anniversaries matter to these people, sean. this crowd didn't take that heed back on september 11. it means more suicide bombers, and the o-team can't even name the enemy radical islam. >> colonel, i've spoken to a number of senators and a number of congress men, and they say this threat is real. they're planning a big event as 9/11. you have a lot of sources. what are they telling you? >> you consider in the chatter that the lesson learned of benghazi was learned by the jih jihadis because they perceive us to be weak, they know that talk is cheap, they know that nothing happened that perpetrated the attacks that killed the u.s. ambassador and three other americans in benghazi. this intercept preceded the propaganda videos that were released by zawahiri. thankfully someone picked up on

it, but the global travel warning and the military alert are proof that radical islam is an even bigger threat today than it was in 9/11 '01. it's a global franchise wech. we went from playing offense to defense, and the bad guys know it. >> talking about pushing out mubarek, the muslim brotherhood taking over, was it wrong for the united states to give the morsi regime, the egyptian regime, f-16s, tankers, money knowing that there was such instability there and knowing who they were aligned with? >> thankfully, we've promised them that we haven't delivered them yet. having now blown it in iraq. when i was on with you just a few days ago from afghanistan, nobody over there was talking about a zero option. the day i got home last week, we started hearing this administration talking about

zero option for troops left in afghanistan. now, look. anybody who is surprised about all this stuff hasn't read by book, "heroes proved," and there is nobody on our trip to israel who has dropped out. and perhaps that's because we're flying alal. i would just point out this administration has misled the american people, they've failed our allies -- look what we're doing with the israelis right now -- and now our enemies no longer see us as a threat to them. that's a bad scene. >> where were you when you were on the ground? you spend time with the troops. what are they telling you about the radical islamist? >> the regime i've been covering for 12 years now is not afraid of these bad guys. they know them to be thugs. suicidal in some cases, no doubt. but the fact is they're willing to meet them head on and head-head in the battlefield. what they don't want to have is the administration that wants to

face the threat and find ourselves with a global travel warning and yet it means americans don't want to get on the u.s. airliner. not a good scene. >> i appreciate you being with us. coming up next, the ambassador to the nation, condoleezza rice, is close to facing the nation, but many find her story hard to buy. hannitylive.foxnews.com. you get to pick tonight's video of the day. here's option number 3. she's going, well, to need a bigger pool, folks. a baby elephant in texas is doing all she can to keep cool on a hot summer day. if you want to see this my asthma's under control. i don't miss out... you sat out most of our game yesterday! asthma doesn't affect my job... you were out sick last week.

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people like bill gates, warren buffett, paul quiggman, dean baker, robert poland, their sons have all said they support transaction tax. so the bottom line is we're not broke, there's plenty of money, it's just the government doesn't have it. the government has a right, the government and the people of the united states have a right to run the programs of the united states. >> pretty unbelievable. left wing minnesota congressman keith ellisman joining me now, and democratic strategist ebony williams. if you live in new york, ebony, or california, you get to keep about 38 cents of every dollar you make. and they say the government has plenty of money and we have a right to it? is that fair in your liberal

mind? >> in my mind, i think the people that work hard should be able to retain as much as possible of their earnings. i believe when there's incentive from the government, when there are programs, the government should do what they can to help people better themselves. >> california and new york keeps over 60 cents of every dollar they make for the local government, state and federal. is that too much? >> i think that canning unreasonable, sean, i do. i think there is a reasonable test we need to be mindful of so there is incentive to work hard and also knowing there is support from your government when you're trying to work to better yourself and better your position in this country. >> pat? >> there is no question about it, the reason folks are leaving new york for florida is not simply the fact that the weather down there tends to be better, but retirees, they go down there and they don't have that 12% city/state income tax in new york city, sean. we have a competitive system in the united states, and you take a look at the states and cities that are taxing people highly

like detroit, and you see what eventually happens to them. >> pat, why don't we put a check box on the tax return, and everybody that wants to pay more can pay more? i'm all in favor of free choice. >> you've got a very good point. i really believe that people ought to say, look -- have a surtax for some of the programs our liberal friends support, and some can say, look, this is optional. you can choose to pay or not to pay, and check it off and see which ones do it. every time they've had something like that, about 1% of the folks check it off and pay extra. >> is that fair, ebony? >> i don't think that serves any real purpose, gentlemen. i think ultimately if we want our tax base to be supportive of upward mobility, and that's certainly, i think, the point there, then we need to be collective in that process. >> give me a percentage. out of every dollar that somebody makes in america, regardless of what their income

is, what is the maximum somebody should have to pay pto the government? what should they be allowed to keep? for example, i think nobody should have to pay more than 25 cents of every dollar they make. is that fair? >> i think that's unreasonable, sean. i think we know that somewhere closer to 30 and 40% is what we've seen work in the past. i think that's somewhere where people -- >> that's at the federal level. >> sean, i would say -- i think, sean, you're dead right. i think 25% for the federal tax at the top level, get rid of an awful lot of these deductions, exemptions so people know they can take home 75%. then at the state level, i guess you sort of let folks do what they want to do because you've got 50 different states and folks that don't like -- the taxes are high, maybe in maryland. you move across the river to virginia and they're lower. i think 25%, really, after you get past that, i think you're taking away a good bit of people's freedom. >> that's what it's about, freedom. and also risk and reward, and

i'd like to get to that number, pat, but we'll see. fair tax, flat tax. either one will be better. thanks, guys. >> thank you, sean. coming up, the republican national committee is giving a bold ultimatum to networks cnn and nbc. the chairman explains what he plans to do if the two so-called news networks go forth with their plans

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welcome back to "hannity." the republican national committee has issued a bold ultimatum suggesting a gop boycott for a primary debate hosted by either network in 2016. this stems from cnn's announcement about the production of a documentary exploring the public and private life of hillary rodham clinton as well as cnbc's proclamation that they would have a miniseries on the secretary of state. they responded to the rnc's concern writing in part, quote, instead of making premature decisions about a project that is in the very early stages of

development and months from completion, we would encourage the republican national committee to reserve judgment until they know more. here now to explain his side of the story, republican national committee chairman ryan previs. good to see you. >> thanks, sean. >> how certain are you that this will abe love letter to hillary? >> it doesn't matter. i mean, the fact of the matter is you've got two networks that are potentially spending millions of dollars promoting a person that they know is at least doing the dance and getting ready for a run for president, and i think it's just about a time that our party stands up and protects the party and our candidates from networks that are not in the business of promoting our party, they're not in the business of promoting our candidates, they're not in the business of doing anything but promoting the democratic party. and i'm not going to sit around. so, look, ina couple years ago

had a 23-debate traveling circus, and i think it's time we cut out those people that are actually spending their time and money promoting our opponents. i'm not not going to sit around let it happen any more. they can go ahead and do it. i can say no. >> are any of the democratic candidates, will they do a debate on fox? i tend to doubt it, right? >> well, in fact, the democrats actually banned fox from the debates when hillary and obama were debating each other, you might remember. and you remember the outrage with the citizens united, the citizens united film when they went forward and all the liberals were up in arms about citizens united. where are they now? the fact that these folks, including many people that are at nbc, one of which is a major bundler for barack obama, would be surprised that we would actually exercise our own right to filter who actually deposes

our candidates and who doesn't. i think i'm being very reasonable here. >> look, i -- here's what i saw in 2012. correct me if i'm wrong. all the liberal networks with the republican primary candidates pinning one against the other and asking wedge question issues that then would later be used by the democratic candidate, in this case, against mitt romney. am i wrong? >> no, you're absolutely right. part of our problem, too, is that we need to control the debates and the party needs to control the debates and we need to make sure that we have rules in place that put forward a debate with a reasonable amount, a form with a reasonable amount of debates so our candidates can have reasonable exchanges. the problem we have now we have a bunch of moderators who are in the business of making news at the expense of our business and our candidates. we can't do it any more. this is not an establishment takeover. this is using your brain and controlling the brand of your party. that's what we need to do.

>> tell me, i thought, did you think during some of these debates that it was the, the questioners that wanted to be the stars. they diddantiddant want answers wanted to fight with the candidates. >> they pushed into positions in ridiculous hypotheticals that are never going to be reality. all they do is have a slice and dice each other for an entire year and my point is this. we have to control the referees that we're bringing into our playground. and right now i don't, i can't trust two organizations that are willing to spend millions of their own dollars in promoting a candidate that they know is gearing up to run for president. if it's no big deal and just sort of this even handed review of hillary clinton, fine. then just wait two years and when she doesn't run for president, then move forward with your documentary. nothing is going to change. hillary will be here for plenty of years for us to produce

movies and documentaries about hillary clinton. that's all. >> do you think it was a mistake to allow or so many debates and to allow the candidates to debate on networks that you know have a liberal bias? >> the answer is yes but for the first time in the history of our party they have rulemaking authority now and we can tie the debate calendar. we can tie who the moderators are to the nomination for president in our rule book. we couldn't do that before. now we can say, here is going to be the debate calendar. here are who the moderators are going to be and here are the debate partners and to the candidates, you can participate in these debates. but if you participate in debates other than the ones on the calendar, there are going to be penalties. part of our problem before when you have 12, 20 people running for president, if 11 people

raise their hand to any two-hour debate offered, then guess what, you've got a debate every two weeks and that's an unhealthy thing for our party. so, we're doing a couple things. we're getting a hold of the debate calendar, number one. number two, we're also going to get a hold of the debates are. i think it's about time. if there's any criticism to ourd party why did you wait so long? to that i say good point and we're addressing it right now and starting with cnn and nbc.s >> sounds very smart. at reince priebus, good. i'd like to see town halls. i like when the people get to e ask questions. >> yeah. >> and h when the candidates geo to debate each other. the it's not about whoever is moderator, in my humble opinion. >> i think lincoln-douglas mo debates are another good option. i'd do a few of those as well. >> that's a great idea. reince priebus, thanks for bein> with us. tes coming up next, your choice of video of the day will be revealed as "hannity" continues straight ahead. il be il be revealed as any last requests mr. baldwin?

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welcome back to "hannity." time to reveal you, the viewers, have chosen as tonight's video. you've chosen the video of the fort worth zoo's new baby elephant who had a little trouble fitting into her baby pool. a couple weeks old the elephant calf is named belle and is a big hit with visitors and to help belle keep cool zoo officials added a child's inflatable pool to the elephant enclosure. according to a spokesperson, belle born on july 7th weighed 330 pound at birth, and by the way is gaining two pound per day. she needs a bigger pool. can't we spring for a bigger pool for poor belle. ridiculous. we've got to raise money for a pool for belle. that's all the time we have left this evening. as always thanks for being with us. let not your heart be troubled. greta van susteren is standing

by live to go "on the record." thanks for being with us this evening. greta, take it away. tonight, it is day number one of a five-week vacation. >> this is an administration which has done everything to distance itself from everything that's happened that's gone wrong in this country. >> what's going on in the country, and that includes the president, this is not a good time to be taking vaitation. you lead by example, and vacation is not what this country wants to do right now. >> president obama is going next week to martha's vineyard and the house and senate take their recess. many say they will do constituent work, i believe they are, but in terms of prioritizing they have done alousing job with the national finances, and they are all going away without doing their jobs first? >> i agree with you, and if you recall four years ago we were going through a very similar thing with the whole health care situation and they went home, and the american people rose up.